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"Not like the Portrens tribe They chose to die to the last soul,we could do to stop theainst theood subjects to King Troven or be driven up into the mountains, why, they just turned tail and rode their horses into the Redfish River I saw itthe Portrens with our forces, still skiric users had fallen to us days before; they couldn’t do much ht we could ainst the river soon, and it was in spring flood from the snowmelt in the mountains Must have been two hundredin the wind of their passage, riding guard around their woht they’d stop and surrender, I se did But they just rode and drove straight into the river, and the river swept the We would have given them quarter if they’d asked for it But no, they chose death and we couldn’t stop theuard on the bank until every one of the women and children were swept away Then they rode in after the up his spurs after that battle and lost all heart, not just for fighting but for the cavalla life War was s’posed to be about glory and honor, not drowning babies"

"Itto see," I ventured

"They chose it," Sergeant Duril said He leaned back on his bedroll and knocked the ash out of his pipe "So death A few of the lads near went mad Not at the moment; at the time we just sat our horses and watched the death, that they knew they couldn’tthere was some trick to what they did, a hidden ford they knew of or soic of their own that would save them But there wasn’t It was afterward that it bothered some of my mates They felt like we drove the a free people make a choice, probably one that they’d talked about before they caht to try and stop the ways? I’m not sure I’m not sure at all about that"

"Only a Plainsman can understand how a Plains fro more tobacco into his pipe and at first he didn’t answera cavalryman turns you into a Plains to understand them too well before the end There’s a beauty and a freedo that, in a pinch, you and your horse can find everything you need to get by on Some folk say that they can’t understand why the Plainspeople never settled down and used the land, never made their ons and farms and tame places But if you ask a Plainsman, and I’ve asked more than a few, they all ask the same question in return ‘Why? Why live out your life in one place, looking at the saht? Why work to rowing, and all you have to do is find it?’ They think we’re crazy, with our gardens and orchards, our flocks and herds They don’t understand us any more than we understand them" He belched loudly and said, "Excuse Course, now there aren’t many Plainspeople left to understand They’ve settled in their own places, under the surrender terot schools and little stores now, and rows of little houses They’ll be just like us in another generation or two"

"I’m sorry to have missed them," I said sincerely "Once or twice I’ve heard my father talk about what it was like to visit one of their camps, back in the days when he rode patrol and sometimes they came in close to the boundaries to trade He said they were beautiful, lean and swift, horses and people alike He spoke of how the Plainspeople tribes would gather sohters of the ruling lords as the prizes He said it was how they forone?"

He nodded slowly, s from his parted lips For a time, human silence held, but the prairie spoke between us, a whispering wild voice, full of soft wind and rustling brush and little creatures that ht I relaxed into the fa me closer to sleep